Since our neighbors, Belgium and Germany, are so close-by, more and more students are choosing to live there and commute to Maastricht for their classes. The rental prices are often lower in Belgium/Germany vs. in the city of Maastricht and it’s so close-by (the border is a ten-minute drive away!) some students cycle from Belgium/Germany everyday. Since so many students live in Belgium/Germany but attend university in Maastricht, many students end up getting a part-time job in Maastricht while living in a different country and this can cause some confusion. In order to live in Belgium/Germany and work in Maastricht there are certain rules you need to adhere to. In this article, we hope to lift the fog of confusion around this!
If you work in the Netherlands, and live in another country, you are still obliged to pay the income tax (inkomstenbelasting) to the Dutch government. As is the case with anyone working in the Netherlands, you will also have to take out Dutch public health insurance.
Because you will live in another country, you don’t need to register with the municipality of Maastricht, you will need to register with the Register of Non-Residents (RNI) in order to get a citizen service number (BSN). This BSN is mandatory for anyone working in the Netherlands as it is needed to receive the obligatory health insurance.
In order to get a BSN number, you must register with a municipality. However, you cannot register with just any municipality but with one of the 19 municipalities that offer the RNI service. Unfortunately, the Maastricht municipality does not issue these so instead you will have to go to the Heerlen municipality. You can fill in the registration form and book an appointment with the municipality of Heerlen from here. After your appointment, where you will hand in all of the required documents (such as birth certificate, proof of address and your ID), you will receive a BSN number which functions in the same way as a BSN for those who live in the Netherlands.
Remember that when taking up a job with a Dutch employer, it is mandatory to have Dutch public health insurance. From our insurance page you can read all about how to get the insurance and how to apply for the health insurance subsidy.
